The rate of injuries to children on inflatable bouncers increased 15-fold, according to a report published in the journal Pediatrics.

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Janice Lloyd
| Gannett/USA Today

The rate of injuries to children on inflatable bouncers increased 15-fold from 1995 to 2010, according to a report published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

The moonwalks, slides and bounce houses are popular at young children's birthday parties and carnivals, but the toll they are taking on the young is "epidemic," says lead author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

In 2010 alone, 30 children a day were treated for these injuries in hospital emergency rooms, the report says. The number of injuries ...